Chapter 48

Love Lake 3: The Complexity of Love

Jiu Yi's friend, Liu Qin, just turned 26 this year. A young and beautiful bride, Liu Qin was, as described by Jiu Yi, originally a formidable and decisive woman. However, even the strongest of women can become vulnerable when they fall in love.

An Ge invited her to sit and observed her closely before asking, "Didn’t you say you were coming with your husband?"

"We arrived last night... I put sleeping pills in his milk... He won’t wake up for a while," Liu Qin replied.

After hearing this, An Ge frowned slightly and asked, "Do sleeping pills affect him?"

"Yes," Liu Qin nodded. "I give him some when I feel suffocated."

An Ge stroked his chin and said, "Tell me more about the situation."

"Hmm," Liu Qin pondered, then said, "There's something in that Lake of Love."

"What kind of thing?" An Ge asked.

"I don't know, just something filthy!" Liu Qin said indignantly. "That night... I thought I saw the water churning. It’s my fault, after all. If I hadn't asked him to go out and check, none of this would have happened."

"What is your husband's name?" An Ge inquired.

"His name is Meng Qiang," replied Liu Qin. "But now, I don't know who he is anymore."

"You said during your honeymoon, you saw something in the water?" Jiu Yi asked, slightly surprised. "What was it? You never mentioned this before."

"I didn't get a clear view," Liu Qin explained. "I didn't pay attention to it at first, only thought of it later... That night, we were standing at the window, admiring the view. Everything was so perfect, and then, at that moment, I saw ripples in the Lake of Love, as if something was about to emerge from the water."

"So, what came out eventually?" Mo Fei asked curiously.

"I thought I saw a hand... I couldn't see clearly," Liu Qin said. "I mentioned it, but Meng Qiang said he didn't see anything. Then... I was still worried, so he said he would go out to check. I wanted to go with him, but he asked me to wait in the room."

"And then what happened?" An Ge asked.

"After that... he went to the riverbank, looked around, and even called the caretaker," Liu Qin said. "The caretaker came, checked everything, said there was no issue, left a large dog to guard our door, and then left."

"Did Meng Qiang behave oddly that night?" An Ge asked.

"No," Liu Qin replied. "But... the dog barked fiercely that night, and I was really worried. He held me and comforted me, and then I fell into a drowsy sleep."

An Ge stroked his chin, a slight smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

Seeing An Ge's expression, Liu Qin looked puzzledly at Jiu Yi, who was also perplexed, and asked, "An Ge, what's wrong?"

An Ge turned to Mo Fei and said, "Mo Fei, could you please bring in the person hiding in the alley behind here?"

Everyone was surprised and looked at An Ge.

An Ge smiled softly and said, "Go ahead."

Mo Fei stepped out of the gallery, went to the alley entrance, and indeed saw a figure on the ground. Startled, he stepped out of the alley, and the person was also taken aback by Mo Fei.

Upon closer inspection, Mo Fei saw a young man in his twenties, exceptionally thin, and said, "You..."

The young man turned to leave, but Mo Fei said, "Wait... are you Liu Qin's husband, Meng Qiang?"

The man paused, then nodded in affirmation.

Observing the man's deep dark circles and his pallor, which was no less than the woman's, Mo Fei said, "Come inside... someone has asked for you."

Meng Qiang was taken aback and asked, "What is this place? Why did Qin sneak into this gallery?"

Mo Fei smiled and said, "It appears to be a gallery, but it's actually a detective agency."

"A detective?" Meng Qiang seemed perplexed. Mo Fei gestured him to come in, saying, "Please, come and have a seat."

Meng Qiang nodded and followed Mo Fei into the gallery.

Liu Qin, upon seeing Meng Qiang, visibly panicked, while Meng Qiang stood awkwardly to one side.

An Ge crossed his legs and said, "Take a seat."

Meng Qiang settled onto the adjacent sofa, looked up, and there he saw Jiu Yi... Jiu Yi examined him. Initially, he had thought about giving this kid, his childhood friend, a good beating upon their reunion, but as he cast a cold glance, he couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment. He had assumed it was the husband tormenting the wife, but now, it seemed like this couple tormented each other. Meng Qiang's appearance didn't fare much better than Liu Qin's.

Angell clasped his hands on his knees and asked Meng Qiang, "You've never taken sleeping pills before, have you?"

Meng Qiang nodded and replied, "At first, I did take them, but I felt my mental state wasn't great, and every time it was after Qin Qin had given me milk or some other beverage. So, I began to suspect something was amiss. I discovered that Qin Qin was adding sedatives to my drinks... so I stopped drinking them secretly, wanting to see what she did when I was asleep. Initially, she didn't do anything; she just cried alone. I didn't know what was wrong with her. This time she suddenly said she wanted to go out and relax with me and sneaked out by herself... I thought she might have another lover... but when I followed her, I didn't expect her to enter the art gallery."

Liu Qin gave him a glance and said, "How could I possibly have another lover!"

Meng Qiang smirked and replied, "Aren't you nervous?"

Jiu Yi and Angell exchanged glances and felt that something seemed peculiar. This Meng Qiang indeed appeared somewhat strange, but now it seemed he didn't possess that sinister aura... He seemed different from the photos. What was going on?

Angell looked at the two and said, "Let's start with this... Meng Qiang, on the night of your honeymoon at Love Lake, the night when Liu Qin claimed to have seen something crawling out of the lake after the administrator left, did you leave the dog behind to guard the place?"

Both Jiu Yi and Mo Fei found Angell's question somewhat perplexing. What did this have to do with anything?

Meng Qiang was momentarily stunned, shook his head, and said, "No, we didn't."

Meng Qiang's words startled Liu Qin, and she asked, "So what are you saying, that they left a big dog at the door to guard, and if anything happened, the dog would bark?"

"Um..." Meng Qiang hesitated and said, "Well, I didn't want you to get scared. I was just trying to comfort you. If the dog didn't bark, you wouldn't be afraid, right?"

"But..." Jiu Yi interjected, addressing Liu Qin, "Didn't you say you heard the dog barking?"

"Yes!" Liu Qin responded, "I heard it, right at the door, and it was barking fiercely!"

"How is that possible?" Meng Qiang widened his eyes and said, "There was no dog at the door!"

"But I..." Liu Qin seemed a bit confused, "I distinctly heard it..."

"If you heard the dog barking, why didn't you ask me?" Meng Qiang inquired.

"I... I was half asleep at the time," Liu Qin explained, "I didn't know what was happening."

Angell looked up at Mo Fei and asked, "What do you think?"

Mo Fei pondered for a moment and said, "Um... It's unlikely that the administrator left a dog." As he spoke, he unconsciously glanced at Ace, and Ace barked.

"Indeed," Jiu Yi remarked, "If the administrator had a dog, they would also take it for patrols at night. It's unlikely they would leave the dog somewhere. Moreover, dogs aren't the kind of animals that stay when you tell them to; most of them would find their way back. Besides, barking dogs would disturb nearby vacationers, and the administrator probably wouldn't do that."

"Jiu Yi!" Liu Qin turned to him and glared, "You don't believe me?"

Jiu Yi awkwardly opened his mouth. After all, they were childhood friends; how could he not believe her? It's just...

"You haven't lied," Angell reassured Liu Qin, "Mentally, there doesn't seem to be anything unusual." As he spoke, Angell took out the photograph and showed it to Meng Qiang, asking, "Why do you look so fierce in this picture? Who were you looking at?"

Meng Qiang took the photo and examined it, his brow slightly furrowing. He said, "Oh... I see him."

"Him?" Liu Qin looked at Meng Qiang in confusion and asked, "Who is it?"

Meng Qiang furrowed his brow and whispered, "The person who's always following you."

"Always following me?" Liu Qin was even more puzzled and asked, "Where is someone following me?"

Liu Qiang also furrowed his brow and inquired, "Aren't you afraid of him?"

"I...," Liu Qin looked bewildered and asked, "Did I ever tell you that someone was always following me?"

Meng Qiang explained, "Whenever you talk in your sleep, you sound frightened, saying things like, 'Who are you? Go away... don't bother Qiang Qiang...' I thought someone was harassing you and using me to threaten you. Later, I kept seeing someone mysteriously appearing around us... I even saw him that time when we were taking the photo... so I warned him to stay away... I've seen him many times, that weirdo. Whenever he's not close, he's by the window. I didn't want to alarm you, so I reported to the police a few times, but they came to investigate quietly and found no one was stalking us. I guess I was just too anxious."

"So that's why this expression," Mo Fei and Jiu Yi leaned in to look. Considering Liu Qin's initial description and their association with possession, the photograph did seem sinister at first. However, now that it was explained, it wasn't evil, as Angell had said, but rather menacing! It had a provocative feeling to it. The gaze combined with the caption would be like saying, "Get lost!"

"I've never seen someone like that," Liu Qin said, "I was afraid for you..."

"Huh?" Meng Qiang widened his eyes and looked at Liu Qin in confusion, asking, "Afraid of what I might do?"

"You... you say 'I love you!' in my ear every night," Liu Qin explained.

Meng Qiang sighed in exasperation and asked, "Don't women like that? I even looked it up online. They said that girlfriends are easily frightened, and if they have any concerns or fears, you should be extra kind and gentle, do everything according to their wishes, especially when they're scared, reassure them repeatedly, and make sure they know how much you love them. And every time I did that, you would peacefully fall asleep, so I thought it was effective."

Mo Fei and Jiu Yi facepalmed, thinking, "She didn't want you to soothe her to sleep; she wanted you to stop scaring her into staying awake."

"So you became so bizarre because of advice from that psychologist?" Liu Qin widened her eyes in disbelief.

Meng Qiang felt a bit aggrieved and explained, "How did I become bizarre? I noticed you were getting more and more haggard day by day, and I worried that the scoundrel from your past had hurt you. I didn't have any other choice but to treat you well, strive to improve myself so you wouldn't worry, and I even discussed it with my parents... They all said I should cherish you."

"Why did you move back to Love Lake?" Liu Qin asked.

"Because you seemed so happy there," Meng Qiang replied. "I wanted to make you happy!"

Liu Qin was stunned, as were Mo Fei and Jiu Yi.

"This proves it," An Ge'er said. "Psychologists are not to be trusted. Seeing one must be done with caution. If you encounter one who is more harmful than helpful, you might end up being diagnosed with an illness you don't have."

Everyone was speechless.

"An Ge'er," Mo Fei looked at him, "so, it looks like this was all a misunderstanding?"

"Hmm," An Ge'er shook his head, calmly stating, "It's not a misunderstanding. Someone is trying to harm you... To be precise, there really is something wrong with Love Lake."